The University of Surrey in the United Kingdom, announced that it has won successful £1.1 million unprecedented three Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT) bids with the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC).

Three uniquely interdisciplinary blockchain projects will use the technology to enhance the effectiveness of eVoting, digital archives and the use of healthcare information, the release stated. The university said that two among the three projects will be starting next month.

“These exciting developments position Surrey as a UK leader, if not the UK leader, in block chain technology. In addition, these projects will contribute to EPSRC’s Delivery Plan outcomes to support a more prosperous UK by working towards a more connected and healthy nation. The transformative uses of DLT offer huge potential and these awards allow us to work and develop on these,” Atti Emecz, University of Surrey’s Acting Vice-Provost Research and Innovation, said.

The first blockchain project named ‘Co-operative Models for Evidence-based Healthcare Redistribution (CoMEHeRe)’ will be starting on June 26 for 18 months and involve £420,045 funding received. This project will work on to enhance individual’s personal healthcare by using and managing biometric information created by wearable devices.

This project will be run between Surrey Business School and the Centre for Vision Speech and Signal Processing (CVSSP) and will be led by Professor Alan Brown, Head of the Department of Digital Economy and Professor of Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Surrey Business School.

The second project is titled ‘Trusted and Transparent Voting Systems’ that will explore the potential applications of blockchain technology in voting and collective decision making and will support more effective and trustworthy electronic voting in different organizations.

Starting from 1 June for 24 months, the second project is a collaboration between Surrey and King’s College London and led by Professor Steve Schneider, Director of Surrey Centre for Cyber Security (SCCS), and Associate Dean.

“This is an exciting new collaboration between political economists and computer scientists, focusing not only on the development of new technology, but also on exploring the positive impact and new opportunities,” Professor Schneider stated.

The third blockchain project titled ‘ARCHANGEL - Trusted Archives of Digital Public Records’ is presently in operation, will work with the UK's National Archives and Tim Berners-Lee's Open Data Institute, in order to develop cutting-edge technology to ensure the long-term sustainability of digital archives.

The 18-month project will be led by Dr John Collomosse, a Senior Lecturer in Computer Vision at CVSSP and will co-create and evaluate a novel prototype DLT service with end-users.